Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The intensified part of the action directly preceding the catastrophe in classical tragedy.
- noun The climax of a drama.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In rhetoric, that part of the exordium in which the speaker seeks to dispose his hearers to a view of the case favorable to his own side, especially by removing from their minds what might prejudice them against it.
- noun That part of the Greek drama in which the action, initiated in the epitasis, is sustained, continued, and prepared for the catastrophe.
- noun In medicine, constitution, state, or condition.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Rhet.) That part of a speech, usually the exordium, in which the orator sets forth the subject matter to be discussed.
- noun (Med.) The state, or condition of anything; constitution; habit of body.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun In classical drama, the third and penultimate section, in which action is heightened for the
catastrophe .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Greek katastasis, settled state, from kathistanai, to come into a certain state : kat-, kata-, cata- + histanai, to set; see stā- in Indo-European roots.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Ancient Greek κατάστασις ("settling, appointment").
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Examples
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It doubles itself in the middle of his life, reflects itself in another, repeats itself, protasis, epitasis, catastasis, catastrophe.
Ulysses 2003
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It doubles itself in the middle of his life, reflects itself in another, repeats itself, protasis, epitasis, catastasis, catastrophe.
Ulysses James Joyce 1911
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Consider therefore this pitiable Twentieth of June as a futility; no catastrophe, rather a catastasis, or heightening.
The French Revolution Thomas Carlyle 1838
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Raise the interest rates but also curb the usury that sends people into a financial catastasis.
Drudge Retort 2008
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